After a male student transmigrated into the body of a widow,

Day two.

Before starting his business, Gu Lin took out a wooden sign and placed it in front of his stall. The sign had black characters written on white paper, which Gu Lin had Zheng Hao write the night before.

There were quite a few customers standing in front of the cold dish stall. Everyone was looking at the wooden sign in front of them, but many illiterate people couldn't understand what was written on it.

Just as they were about to approach the cold dish stall owner, several scholars stepped out from the crowd and read aloud the words on the wooden sign: "The stall will be closed from today. It will open in five days on Ming Rong Street. We hope you will come and support us!"

As soon as the scholar finished speaking, a commotion arose among the crowd in front of the cold dish stall. Fearing they would not have any more braised and cold dishes to eat in the future, they quickly stepped forward and asked Gu Lin, who was busy with his work, "Boss Gu, are you going to open a shop later? Will you still sell cold dishes and braised food?"

Gu Lin packed up the food in his hands, then looked up to answer the question from the person who came: "It's for sale. The stall is too small now, and the amount of cold dishes and braised food we can sell each day is limited, so closing the stall and opening the shop is a last resort."

After Gu Lin confirmed it, everyone understood that what was written on the wooden sign was true.

Several stalls nearby were astonished when they heard Gu Lin's words. How long had this cold dish stall been open, and he had already earned enough money to open a shop?

Even though they could feel the booming business of the cold dish stall every day, they still found it unbelievable that Gu Lin had opened a shop. They couldn't help but wonder if selling cold dishes was really that profitable.

No, no, they all shook their heads. Since the cold dishes went on sale, many people in the county have tried to imitate them. At first, these imitators did have some business because of the price, but in the end, they all closed down and left because of the poor taste.

It's clear that running a cold dish business isn't so easy.

The person who asked the question caught the key point in Gu Lin's words and looked at him with shining eyes, saying, "Boss Gu, do you mean that after the store opens, there will be no limit to cold dishes and braised food?"

"Yes." Gu Lin didn't keep the other person in suspense.

Not only were the people asking the questions overjoyed, but even those queuing behind them were thrilled upon hearing the news.

Several customers at the cold dish stalls ahead were so excited they almost jumped up. They said to Gu Lin, "Boss Gu, you should have opened a shop a long time ago."

Gu Lin himself complained that his stall was too small and that he could only make a limited variety of cold dishes and braised foods; many customers felt the same way.

Because the cold dish stalls sell only a small quantity of cold dishes and braised food each day, even though they get up very early, there are always people who get up even earlier than them, so they have missed out on buying cold dishes and braised food several times.

Upon hearing that Gu Lin would be increasing the quantity of cold dishes and braised food when he reopened his shop in five days, the customers immediately forgot their displeasure and frustration at learning that the cold dish stall would be closed for five days. They smiled and said to Gu Lin, "Don't worry, Boss Gu, we will definitely come to support you then."

Seeing that the diners didn't blame him but instead supported him, Gu Lin smiled and told them about the opening day activities: "Thank you all for your support. We will be launching new dishes and offering many discounts on the opening day! We hope you will come and visit us."

After successfully informing his customers that he would be closing his stall and opening a shop, Gu Lin felt a little relieved.

He had initially worried that people would be dissatisfied and cause trouble, but now that things have been resolved smoothly without any unpleasantness, Gu Lin is very happy.

Upon learning that Gu Lin would not be setting up his stall for the next five days, the diners immediately unleashed unprecedented purchasing power, selling out hundreds of tubes of cold dishes and two large pots of braised food in just about an hour.

Gu Lin and Sister Zhao packed up the stall together. Seeing that they had almost finished, Gu Lin told Sister Zhao and then went to find the owner of the wonton stall.

"Boss lady," Gu Lin called out.

It was still before lunchtime, and the wonton stall was quiet with few customers.

The proprietress, who had been standing behind the iron pot making wontons, looked up after hearing Gu Lin's voice. She then wiped her flour-covered hands on her apron, picked up a bundle of flowers and herbs, and walked up to Gu Lin: "Husband Gu, these are the flowers and herbs you wanted."

Taking the herbs from the proprietress, Gu Lin looked down and examined them, finally confirming that the herbs in front of him were indeed the licorice he wanted.

He brushed aside the clump of licorice in his hand and then noticed a few brown fruits inside. Gu Lin paused for a moment, then looked up at the proprietress.

Seeing the brown fruit in Gu Lin's hand, the proprietress explained, "This fruit is called a sweet fruit, and the water boiled from it is also sweet. You can take it home and boil it for your children to drink."

Gu Lin half-closed his eyes, a thought flashing through his mind.

Then he looked up and smiled, radiating joy from within, and asked the proprietress, "Proprietress, how much licorice and sweet fruit do you have left?"

Licorice?

At first, the proprietress was puzzled when she heard Gu Lin use unfamiliar words, but when she saw him looking at her with bright eyes, she quickly realized that the licorice he was referring to was the bundle of flowers and herbs.

Although she didn't know why the other party asked this, the proprietress told the truth: "Licorice and sweet fruit are everywhere in our village, but nobody wants them."

Upon learning from the other party that licorice and sweet fruit were abundant, Gu Lin's smile deepened as he said, "Boss lady, I'd like to discuss a business deal with you?"

"Talk business?" The proprietress looked puzzled.

At this moment, the boss, who had been listening to their conversation, came over.

Gu Lin said to the two people in front of him, "I want to cooperate with you. I need a lot of licorice and sweet fruit, but I don't have time to go to your village to buy them. You can act as middlemen to buy them for me and then sell them to me. I don't care what price you pay the villagers, but I will pay ten coins per catty for licorice and three coins per catty for sweet fruit. What do you think?"

The proprietress and proprietress were stunned by what the young man in front of them had said; they seemed not to understand what he meant. They had already said that licorice and sweet fruit were everywhere, and no one else bothered to pick them, so why was this man offering such a high price to buy them from them?

Are you sure this isn't a joke?

Gu Lin was not joking, of course. The price he paid for licorice and sweet fruit seemed high to the boss and his wife because they considered licorice and sweet fruit as worthless as weeds, but ten coins was the normal price for licorice.

Licorice is a medicinal herb, an indispensable ingredient in pharmacies. Gu Lin often deals with pharmacies because he buys spices, so he knows that the licorice in their shop usually costs around fifteen coins.

But those were all processed licorice roots prepared by others. The wonton stall owner and his wife, along with the villagers, obviously didn't know how to process medicinal herbs. The licorice root in Gu Lin's hand was simply dried and preserved after being picked by them.

Therefore, Gu Lin purchased the licorice from them at the price of unprocessed licorice.

Anyway, he bought licorice to make food, and whether the licorice was processed or not was not important to him.

Looking at the earnest young man in front of her, and considering that he had gone from running a small stall to opening a shop in just one month, the proprietress's initial unease gradually subsided, and she had a vague premonition that made her agree to his request.

The proprietress stared at Gu Lin and asked, "Gu husband, how much licorice and sweet fruit do you want?"

"I'll take as much as you want!" Gu Lin said without hesitation. "Tomorrow, I'll need fifty catties of licorice and sweet fruit. You can deliver them directly to the shop on Mingrong Street."

He took out a silver ingot and handed it to the proprietress, saying, "This is the deposit."

The proprietress had never seen such a large silver ingot in her entire life; it must have weighed about ten taels.

She gritted her teeth and agreed, "Okay, I will definitely deliver the licorice and sweet fruit to your shop tomorrow."

After the business deal was settled, Gu Lin left with the licorice and sweet fruit in his hand.

·

For the past five days, Gu Lin has been busy renovating his house and shop in the county, so he hasn't been able to set up his stall. He also gave Zhao's wife a day off so she could rest at home.

For five consecutive days, every morning, Gu Lin and Zheng Hao would ride in Uncle Zhang's oxcart to the county. Zheng Hao would go to the school to study, while Gu Lin would run around the county town looking for people to renovate houses and shops.

Based on his own aesthetic sense, Gu Lin communicated with the decoration team and decided to decorate the house in a warm and cozy style, while decorating the shop in a simple and minimalist style.

During the process of decorating Zheng Hao's house, Gu Lin specifically asked about his preferences. Unexpectedly, Zheng Hao requested simplicity and said upon seeing the house that Gu Lin had arranged for him, "This is fine. Please help me install a few more bookshelves, Uncle Gu."

Gu Lin readily agreed to Zheng Hao's simple request and immediately ordered several bookshelves to be made and placed in Zheng Hao's house and study.

After the house renovation was completed, the shop in front was also almost finished.

Gu Lin also fulfilled his promise made on the day he bought the house, inviting Zhao's family to their new home in the county town for a housewarming banquet on the fourth day.

The housewarming banquet featured a rich variety of dishes, filling the entire table. Some dishes were purchased from Fu Man Lou, while others were prepared by Gu Lin himself. In short, there were meat dishes, vegetable dishes, cold dishes, and hot dishes, with various cooking methods including stewing, boiling, frying, and steaming.

Aside from saying a few auspicious words at the beginning, everyone then focused intently on eating the food on the table.

By the end of the meal, there wasn't much of the dozen or so dishes left.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Sister Zhao finally found a moment to ask Gu Lin, "Brother Lin, when are you moving?"

Gu Lin explained his plan: "Tomorrow, I've almost finished packing up the house. We don't need to move the furniture, the previous owner left a lot of it. Xiao Hao and I just need to bring our clothes and some other small items."

“Alright!” Sister Zhao said directly, “I and your older brother will come over to help you then.”

"Okay." The two families were getting along better and better, and Gu Lin didn't stand on ceremony with Sister-in-law Zhao.

But he still had worries in his heart. Gu Lin looked at Sister Zhao and said, "When the new store opens, I will have to trouble you and Brother Zhao."

Sister Zhao thought the other person was talking about her own affairs, so she waved her hand and said, "What trouble is there? It's just coming over to stay. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be able to afford a house in the county!"

Seeing that Sister-in-law Zhao didn't seem to care, Gu Lin smiled helplessly and said, "Not only will I have to trouble you, but I will also have to trouble Brother Zhao. After Xiao Hao and I moved to the county town, we can't go back to Xiahe Village often anymore, but the vegetables in the village still need to be purchased and delivered to the county town."

“I don’t trust anyone else to do this job,” Gu Lin said to Sister Zhao. “I want to work with Brother Zhao to help buy the melons and vegetables in the village and then transport them to the county town every morning. But this will require Brother Zhao to get up before dawn. If Brother Zhao is willing to take on this job, I will give him four taels of silver a month as wages.”

After Gu Lin finished speaking, he turned to Brother Zhao and said, "Brother Zhao, do you think this is alright?"

Brother Zhao, who was usually taciturn, said, "No need for money. I get up very early during the day, and after delivering the vegetables to you, I can go back to farming."

Sister-in-law Zhao disagreed, saying, "Your brother Zhao is right. You've already given me five taels of silver as wages, so there's no reason for you to give me more!"

Gu Lin knew that Sister Zhao must feel that he had taken advantage of her again, so he explained helplessly to her, "Sister-in-law, it can't be generalized. I brought you from the village to do business with me, which means that you can't go home more than a few times a month and have to work from dawn to dusk. Giving you five taels of silver is what you deserve, it's not too much at all."

“Brother Zhao needs to deal with the villagers and transport the vegetables to buy them for me. In a few days, when it gets cold, Brother Zhao will have to brave the cold wind to come from the village to the county town. Brother Zhao didn’t take more than four taels of silver. You all put in physical labor. If I don’t pay you a fair wage, I will feel guilty.”

As soon as Gu Lin started talking about reason, Zhao's wife's head started to ache. She said, "Alright, alright, you young man, you're quite the talker when it comes to reasoning."

Sister Zhao said, "I'll go back and pack my things today, and then I'll come to the county to stay tomorrow."

Seeing that the other party no longer refused and even offered to stay in the county town two days earlier, Gu Lin couldn't help but say with emotion, "Sister-in-law Zhao, you are so kind."

Hearing this, Sister Zhao blushed and said, "How old are you? The child is still being looked after!"

She said this, but when she looked at the boy in front of her, the affection in her eyes was undeniable.

However, after hearing Zhao's reminder, Gu Lin subconsciously turned his head and saw Zheng Hao looking at him. Thinking of how he had been acting coquettishly with Zhao earlier, Gu Lin felt a little embarrassed, so he put on a serious face and resumed his adult demeanor.

But Gu Lin was unaware that he had never been composed in Zheng Hao's eyes.

In Zheng Hao's view, Gu Lin was not as mature and experienced as other elders, but he was steady when he needed to be, and he was never stingy with his shame, generously showing his care and affection to him.

Moreover, the other person was completely different from the people around him. Gu Lin respected him very much, and Zheng Hao felt that he was not an appendage of an elder, but a member of the family.

Gu Lin would not ignore his opinions and would ask for his thoughts on everything he did.

When Zhao Dagen was injured, the other party sought his help. When buying a house and shop a few days ago, the other party also discussed it with him. If there were things that he didn't have time to ask him about, Gu Lin would inform him afterward. This gave Zheng Hao the feeling that he and Gu Lin were slowly building a home together.

Zheng Hao really liked this feeling.

However, compared to the joy of Gu Lin and the other three, Zhao Dagen seemed rather depressed.

His injuries were gradually improving and almost healed, but as a young and strong man, while his parents were earning money, he was just lying at home eating and drinking for free, which made Zhao Dagen feel very frustrated.

Gu Lin, always observant, noticed Zhao Dagen's odd behavior and asked him, "Dagen, have you finished making the wooden cart I asked you to work on the other day?"

Hearing Gu Lin call him, Zhao Dagen quickly concealed his frustration and looked up at Gu Lin, saying, "Not yet, but I already know how to do it. If Uncle Gu needs it, I can make it tomorrow."

“Okay.” Gu Lin said to Zhao Dagen, “Make three or four carts first. The road from Xiahe Village to the county town is extremely bumpy. If we still use Uncle Zhang’s oxcart to transport the melons and vegetables, the vegetables in the bamboo baskets will definitely be broken. We will use the wooden carts you make.”

"However, there are a lot of fruits and vegetables being delivered every day, and Brother Zhao might not be able to handle it all. We'll need you and Brother Zhao to deliver them together in the future."

Upon hearing Gu Lin's words and realizing that he wasn't useless and had something to do, Zhao Dagen's eyes lit up, and he said to Gu Lin, "Uncle Gu, don't worry, I'll do my best."

Seeing that the other person was no longer depressed and dejected, Gu Lin felt a little relieved. When he turned to meet Zhao's grateful eyes, he sighed again, "The hearts of parents are all the same."